Doubleday pre-empts debut from 'astonishing talent' Read as rights snapped up around world

Doubleday has pre-empted the debut novel from “astonishing new talent” Shelley Read. 

Jane Lawson, editorial director, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, to Go As a River from Susanna Lea at Susanna Lea Associates, acting on behalf of US publisher Spiegel & Grau. In just two weeks, rights have sold in pre-empts or at auction in more than 20 languages with many more deals under way. It will publish in spring 2023. 

Go As a River is set on a peach orchard in 1940s rural America. It is described by the publisher as a “majestic, beautiful coming-of-age and an enthralling tale of a young woman’s love for a mysterious drifter, where the landscape is as central as its sprawling cast and where the chattering townsfolk loom larger than life”. 

Lawson said: “I could not be more thrilled to be publishing Shelley Read, an astonishing new talent who so clearly knows the place of her novel to her bones as well as its emotional and spiritual terrain. Her raw, propulsive, lyrical style, her ability to conjure unforgettable characters and her filmic storytelling all utterly captivated me. Go As a River is a heartrending hymn to the earth and to living life as it comes, a message which the title itself so exquisitely conveys. Shelley Read is a literary star and we at Doubleday could not be more excited to publish her.” 

Read was a senior lecturer in writing and literature for nearly three decades at Western Colorado University, where she was a founder of the environmental studies programme and another programme for first-generation and at-risk students. Go As a River is inspired by the true story of the devastating flooding of a rural community to make a reservoir. 

Read said: “What a dream to put Go As a River in the very capable hands of Jane Lawson and the Doubleday team. Jane’s extraordinary enthusiasm for my debut novel reassures me that readers can fall in love with a story rooted in the natural world and the fragile yet wise human heart. I’m so thrilled for Doubleday to bring Go As a River to the UK.” 

Lea added: “It’s a real joy and honour to accompany Spiegel & Grau and Shelley Read internationally with this magnificent debut. The extraordinary response around the world is a testament to the timeless, universal appeal of the spellbinding literary world Shelley Read has created. I could not be more happy for it to have found its home with Doubleday.”